From left, Democratic Senate candidate Gordon Ball, the Chicken and former U.S. Rep. Lincoln Davis share a moment before Ball kicked off a “No Show Lamar” bus tour.VOTER GUIDESee a list of candidates and proposed amendments at timesfreepress.com/voterguide2014.
NASHVILLE — Flanked by a man in a yellow chicken suit wearing a familiar-looking plaid shirt, Democrat Gordon Ball today again called on Republican U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander to debate him and hinted if the senator won’t, it’s because he’s …
Well, you know the drill. Otherwise, why would Ball be standing next to a six-foot tall chicken wearing the same-style checked shirt Alexander wore in two successful gubernatorial campaigns in the 1970s and 1980s?
“He won’t come out, he won’t come out and fight,” Ball said of Alexander to a group of reporters as he kicked off a “No Show Lamar” bus tour. “He’ll fight on TV, and he’ll fight through his TV ads, but that’s it.”
Ball and Alexander made a joint appearance last week before Tennessee Farm Bureau leaders last week in a forum that the Farm Bureau said wasn’t intended to be a debate. But it sometimes took on aspects of one as the two clashed.
Still, Alexander has refused to take Ball up on the Democrat’s call for a series of televised debates across the state.
While Ball didn’t directly call Alexander a “chicken” today, he referred to the chicken as “Lamar.”
On Thursday, Ball and six independent candidates plan to hold their own debate in Nashville.
Others participating include Joshua James, a Libertarian, as well Constitution Party candidate Joe Wilmoth; Green Party candidate Martin Pleasant; Danny Page, an independent constitutional conservative; Edmund Gauthier, a constitutional independent and “anti-party” candidate, and Tom Emerson, a Tea Party member running as an independent.
Alexander’s seat is considered solidly Republican by a number of neutral observers including the Cook Political Report.